tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942Wed, 16 Sep 2015 20:53:32 +0000Musings from Brian J. Noggle<i>To say Noggle, one first must be able to say the "Nah."
</i>http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)Blogger5131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-7992829809584746396Sun, 03 Jan 2010 19:39:00 +00002010-01-03T13:41:16.883-06:00New Decade, New DomainI'm taking this party over to www.brianjnoggle.com/blog.
Everyone update your bookmarks and blogrolls. And by "everyone," I mean you, Charles.http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-decade-new-domain.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-3136228811285679715Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:35:00 +00002009-12-29T07:35:00.236-06:00Book Report: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Classics Club Edition)This book collects a large number of Marcus Aurelius' thoughts about life as a Stoic. Marcus Aurelius, for those of you who don't know, was Roman Emperor in the middle portion of the Empire. He might sound a little familiar because Joaquin Phoenix killed him in Gladiator.
The book reads like a set of Stoic tweets or fortune cookies. There is no flow to them, really, aside from a couple that http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-meditations-by-marcus.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-289843778315217982Mon, 28 Dec 2009 14:00:00 +00002009-12-28T08:00:07.086-06:00Book Report: Jem by Frederik Pohl (1979)This is not a book about the action figure. Unfortunately.
It's a 1979 dark novel about power politics and national and bloc-level conflict. However, in this future, although people are still flying Trans World Airlines, the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact are part of a larger bloc called the Food Bloc which squares off against oil-producing countries (including Great Britain) and the http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-jem-by-frederik-pohl-1979.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-1233256534521751598Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:51:00 +00002009-12-26T12:51:11.709-06:00Book Report: The Darwin Awards II by Wendy Northcutt (2000)It's been five years since I read the next volume in the series (The Darwin Awards 3, wherein the numbering went Arabic instead of Roman. You know, what I said about that book also applies to this book, really. It's a digest of Web site postings. The essays that introduce each chapter still annoyed me.
But five years later, I'm less amused by the anecdotes of creative deaths. Maybe I'm http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-darwin-awards-ii-by-wendy.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-4901201355393770054Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:36:00 +00002009-12-26T12:37:15.804-06:00Book Report: "One Moment, Sir!" Cartoons from the Saturday Evening Post selected by Marione R. Nickles (1957)Well, I've read another book of cartoons to make my annual total more impressive. Also, it's a handy book to read when you're watching a football game, as you can read a cartoon or two between plays. So that explains why I spent some time on a fifty year old book of cartoons designated for the sophisticate reading a magazine founded by Ben Franklin. Back in the 50s, it was more a general http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-one-moment-sir-cartoons.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-3274935779740650955Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:41:00 +00002009-12-22T19:46:39.286-06:00How Will That Play To The Tea Party Crowd?You know the tea party people, the ones who take off of work to travel to Washington, D.C., to protest? The ones who skip lunches to march in front of their Congressional representatives offices? The ones who show up on Saturday because they don't like health control reform?
How do you think they'll like it that the Senate Republican leadership gave in a little early so everyone could go home http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/how-will-that-play-to-tea-party-crowd.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-8735465655276278981Tue, 22 Dec 2009 13:04:00 +00002009-12-22T07:11:05.142-06:00A Is A: The Law of IdentityThings act according to their natures. The scorpion and the frog. Anyone familiar with these could have foreseen this:
One of the biggest challenges to ending the foreclosure crisis is this: A surprising number of homeowners who get their monthly payments reduced fall behind again within a year.
When borrowers get into financial trouble, lenders have several ways to help. They can offer http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/is-the-law-of-identity.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-3444276291807032017Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:03:00 +00002009-12-21T08:03:00.273-06:00Book Report: When's Later, Daddy? by Bil Keane (1974)Yes, I did read another book of 1960s and 1970s cartoons to make my annual quota of 100 books. Well, what would you do?
I guess some Family Circus cartoons are amusing. I certainly empathize with them now that I have Jeffy and PJ of my own. But they do seem to be relics of a bygone era of straight nuclear family cartoons. Although the pages of this paperback are yellowed with age, in my http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-whens-later-daddy-by-bil.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-410571561493140082Sun, 20 Dec 2009 14:56:00 +00002009-12-20T08:56:00.247-06:00Book Report: TV Babylon by Jeff Rovin (1984)Consider this book to be the antidote to the little elementary school books about 1980s television stars that I've read before (TV Superstars '82, TV Superstars '83, TV Close-ups). In it, the author recounts suicides, crimes, breakdowns, scandals, and all sorts of shenanigans that take place in Hollywood to television stars.
Oddly enough, the book covers some of the same stars as the books http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-tv-babylon-by-jeff-rovin.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-4772773257875378801Sat, 19 Dec 2009 17:11:00 +00002009-12-19T11:12:27.649-06:00Book Report: The Only Girl in the Game by John D. MacDonald (1960)This might be one of MacDonald's darkest pieces. Set in Las Vegas, it focuses on a hotel manager who tries not to get involved in the mob doings on with the hotel or the casino. He falls for a singer who's been with the hotel for a long time (a couple of years), and he dreams of taking her away when he makes enough to buy himself a hotel of his own in Florida. She, however, is blackmailed by http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-only-girl-in-game-by-john-d.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-408264798715457256Sat, 19 Dec 2009 16:42:00 +00002009-12-19T10:43:58.386-06:00Book Report: Growing Up in the Bend by E.M. Bray (1998)This book is a set of reminiscences about growing up in the bend of the Gasconade River in rural Missouri in the late 1940s and early 1950s. The author is the son of a small farmer in the region who attends the local one room elementary school at the time and occasionally takes in a film in a nearby town. Strangely, the stories seem more from the time of The Great Brain series (Utah 1898) than http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-growing-up-in-bend-by-em.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-7052099895266976552Sat, 19 Dec 2009 14:12:00 +00002009-12-19T11:17:00.027-06:00Book Report: The Crossroads by John D. MacDonald (1959)This is a shorter of MacDonald's works, it seems, and it combines two of his themes: business and crime.
In it, the oldest brother of a family runs a business empire built on a Florida highway at an interchange. Businesses include a truck stop, a hotel, a motel, a couple restaurants, and a strip mall. His father, who bought all the land, has retired and lives on a hill overlooking his family http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-crossroads-by-john-d.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-4146908768624257257Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:37:00 +00002009-12-19T07:44:35.770-06:00Democratic Party Barking at ShadowsThe Missouri State Democratic Party intends to file an ethics complaint because a Congressman explained his vote to his constituents:
The Missouri Democratic Party is crying foul over a mailer U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt's office sent to 7th District residents addressing his vote against cap and trade legislation that aims to reduce greenhouse gases.
The League of Conservation Voters has spent more http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/democratic-party-barking-at-shadows.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-7199497053657587150Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:22:00 +00002009-12-16T07:27:51.841-06:00More Dangerous Right Wing American Tea Party ProtestorsTaking to the streets, smashing things up:
Police have forced back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a perimeter fence at the UN climate summit venue in Copenhagen.
The Bella Centre, where the conference is taking place, has now been shut off, says the BBC's Sarah Mukherjee.
When conservatives take to the streets, Democrats in office characterize them as violent mobs. When http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/more-dangerous-right-wing-american-tea.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-3986104002381187737Sat, 12 Dec 2009 04:20:00 +00002009-12-11T22:23:11.208-06:00The Saddest Search Hit of AllI am the first hit on Yahoo! Answers for brian bought a used bike for $25 less than its original . he paid a total of $ 88 for the bike , what was the original price of the bike.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Internet, I cannot but feel nothing but desolate sadness that some poor, stupid product of public education could not help but try Yahoo! answers for a simple word problem.
Can't these damn http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/saddest-search-hit-of-all.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-904840363872959259Fri, 11 Dec 2009 14:01:00 +00002009-12-11T08:02:29.149-06:00Audit Finds Putting OkayAudit suggests driver training for K.C. policehttp://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/audit-finds-putting-okay.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-6444099398140502041Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:22:00 +00002009-12-08T12:33:33.521-06:00A New Bureaucracy Needs New BureaucratsYou remember this chart?
Click for full size
You know what I think?
A hint from RSMcCain:
Hate to tell Harry Reid, but Danny Tarkanian is running for Senate. He's beating Harry in the polls.
That's a lot of new plum government jobs to be had. Coincidentally, it looks as a large number of legislators will hit the job market in 2010. Or is it not coincidence?http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/new-bureaucracy-needs-new-bureaucrats.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-239209916193329357Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:30:00 +00002009-12-06T09:34:10.209-06:00You Will Keep Doing It Until You Do It RightAnother electoral defeat for a tax increase just leads to a sequel, as the Christian County Library Board reanimates the undead and tries to get it on the next ballot:
The Christian County Library Board is expected to decide this month whether to send a proposed property tax increase back to voters.
If approved, it would help build three libraries.
Library Director Mabel Phillips said the http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/you-will-keep-doing-it-until-you-do-it.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-7141691190252363432Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:49:00 +00002009-12-05T08:49:00.619-06:00Book Report: Dead Low Tide by John D. MacDonald (1953)This John D. MacDonald paperback original, written over 50 years ago, centers on a man working for a construction company whose boss commits suicide with a harpoon gun. The protagonist's harpoon gun. And it doesn't look like suicide after all. Circumstances and the individual plots of the individual people have hemmed him in as the suspect, though. But when the woman friend who the http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-dead-low-tide-by-john-d.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-3381389281481052740Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:40:00 +00002009-12-04T07:40:00.569-06:00Book Report: Homegoing by Frederik Pohl (1989)I'm reviewing these books out of order; I read this book when I went through a recent sci-fi set including Solaris and Lovelock. So apparently it was not only a sci-fi set, but also a single word title sci-fi set.
This book centers on the return of a human rescued in space by the Haklh'hi. The young man was raised from infancy by the herd-like aliens. As they return him, they behave a little http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-homegoing-by-frederik-pohl.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-996119139095191131Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:29:00 +00002009-12-03T07:30:16.233-06:00Book Report: Wildtrack by Bernard Cornwell (1988)This is a very early thriller from a very young (from the book jacket photo) Cornwell. Probably precedes his success with historical novels, but this very book could be a historical novel of sorts since it deals with a veteran of the Falkland Islands War.
A disabled veteran, winner of the Victoria Cross, finds that his boat--the one thing he missed most--has been beached during his absence and http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-wildtrack-by-bernard.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-7744100923941920063Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:43:00 +00002009-12-02T14:54:12.851-06:00Talk About Instant SavingsI received two Forbes subscription renewals in the mail the other day. The same day. With a $40 difference in a six month subscription rate.
First, a congratulations on my recent move and an offer to renew at $59.95 for 26 issues:
Click for full size
In another envelope, an offer to renew at $19.95 for 26 issues:
Click for full size
As you know, I take a larger number of magazines http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/talk-about-instant-savings.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-131863165192968560Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:48:00 +00002009-12-01T08:48:00.903-06:00Book Report: Millennium by John Varley (1983)As an anonymous commentor said when I reviewed Ben Bova's book of the same name, the novel Millennium by John Varley, based on the short story "Air Raid" by the same, is better than the film Millennium, based on the short story "Air Raid" by John Varley. You know, he's right, but it's a strange odyssey from the short story to each. According to Wikipedia:
We had the first meeting on Millennium http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/12/book-report-millennium-by-john-varley.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-7091657698767127627Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:10:00 +00002009-11-30T16:13:11.770-06:00Fellow Milwaukeean Also Undorses BrothersJohn Nolte, formerly of the northwest side like yours truly and now of Big Hollywood, agrees with my assessment of the forthcoming Brothers:
The budget for ”Brothers,” per director Jim Sheridan, is $25 million, which probably doesn’t include marketing for promotion and … well, tell me again how Hollywood is driven by profit and not ideology? We’re a month away from 2010 so it’s hard to argue “http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/11/fellow-milwaukeean-also-undorses.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5249942.post-2929507395355172452Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:18:00 +00002009-11-29T13:28:15.731-06:00The SecretHow does a couple not on the guest list bypass White House security to get into the premises to mingle with the President and all the President's men? However does one get through a tight net composed of the Secret Service, the military, and "You asked for miracles, Theo, I give you the FBI"?
By being swarthy, communicating with terrorists, and arguing for Jihad when told they're not on the http://stlbrianj.blogspot.com/2009/11/secret.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Brian J.)0